You many have heard recent reports of drag-averse states banning showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I take this as a personal insult to Jersey City. Rocky Horror wasn’t created here, but we’ve got a long history with the movie and its attendant phenomena, including some memorably gonzo screenings and performances in the Harsimus Cemetery. Sal Piro, the longtime […]
Food and Fun
Things to see (this will include art, theater, dance, music, movies, comedy, spoken word, readings etc.)
Things to do (this will include activities like street fairs, 5k runs, reservoir tours etc.)
Posted inVisual Arts
Art in the Home and Studio: Lambert, O’Leary, and Evening Star
Looking at an abundance of artworks: that’s what makes the Studio Tour fun. But visiting artists’ houses during the Tour is almost as rewarding. Artists’ homes and studios often resemble the work the artists are doing, and a visit can feel like stepping into a painting. Private galleries and home studios exist at an intersection between architecture […]
Posted inVisual Arts
The Wonders of the Powerhouse Arts District in Four New Shows
Luis Muñoz Marin Boulevard is not considered a place where pedestrians go on purpose. Nevertheless, there’s a new Australian bakery just north of Morgan Street, and a café, open air seating, and a bandshell outside of the big tower on the northwest corner of the Bay Street intersection. Right in between the two, Art House Productions has […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Cheryl Gross Comes Out Swinging at Lemmerman Gallery
There aren’t too many cowgirls in Jersey City. But it’s probable that everybody in Jersey City has an idea about what a cowgirl acts like. A cowgirl is strong, resilient, direct, and maybe righteously impertinent, too. She’s is nobody you’d want to mess with, lest you get tangled up in a lasso or threatened with […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Art Fair 14C Moves to Liberty State Park, Absorbs JCAST
For its fifth year, Art Fair 14C has a new home. The rapidly expanding fair, which ran at the waterfront Hyatt in 2020, the Glass Gallery at Mana Contemporary in 2021, and the Jersey City Armory in 2022, moves to another picturesque setting in 2023: the CRRNJ Terminal in Liberty State Park. If you follow the […]
Posted inVisual Arts
Six Rewarding Gallery Shows on View in Jersey City
If you attended JC Fridays, you know: we’re currently in a time of riches. There are rewarding shows on view all over town. It won’t always be this way. So in the interest of getting you out on the town while the offerings are hot, I’m breaking this down as simply as I can. Why are these […]
Posted inVisual Arts
JC Fridays: Our Picks
2022 was not kind to Jersey City artists. It was defined by hesitancy, half-measures, and a doozy of a pandemic hangover. 2023, by contrast, is off to a roaring start. Our early-blooming shows have been glorious. If the first JC Fridays event of the year is often a survey of the scene and an indication […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Rogue Waves March: Musical Events in Jersey City
This column is designed to call your attention to live music. Multimedia installations with recorded sound are a completely different kind of experience— usually one involving less moshing and fewer bottles of beer. But some art shows with musical dimensions are so weird and intriguing that they barge into the conversation about local musical events […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Two New Jersey Albums: Kena Anae and American Watercolor Movement
Kena Anae Hold On! Electric Songs of Protest Vol. 1 Study Group Records What sort of revolution is Kena Anae after? Certainly not a bloody one: this is a soul man with a disposition so sugary that he’s inclined to take political advice from a fortune cookie. Though Hold On! Electric Songs of Protest Vol. 1 lays on […]
Posted inVisual Arts
A Jersey City Artist Paints His Way Through Cancer Treatment
Three and a half months ago, Thomas John Carlson, of the Jersey City Art School, shook up Art Fair 14C with a wallful of historical paintings distinguished by their sensitivity, energy and imagination. The paintings were full of drama, struggle, and acute observations of human beings under duress. His turn at the fair reminded local […]